The founders of Bet365 – The incredible story
Bet365 history
Bet365 is an internationally renowned betting website that is available to gamblers in 17 different languages and it permits betting in 29 different currencies. The company is based in the United Kingdom and has resisted the temptation to move its operations offshore for tax advantages.
The Coates family from Stoke-On-Trent, England, own Bet365. Peter Coates is the father and he has a daughter, Denise Coates and a son John Coates. Denise has earned the nickname “queen of gambling” over the years and holds the majority of share ownership at just over 50%. Peter and John own around 43% and the rest is divided by some small owners.
Bet365 own the professional football club, Stoke City FC, who are currently playing in the English championship. Peter Coates has been the chairman of the football club for a number of years. Back in 1974 he purchased a small number of betting shops and grew this to owning around 59 shops in the UK.
The two children, Denise and John are joint CEOs of Bet365. They both learned the gambling business from their father and Denise was operations manager for her father’s betting shops. It was Denise that was the inspiration behind online betting and the creation of Bet365.
The start of Bet365
Denise Coates was so convinced that online gambling was the future that she paid £10,000 for the domain name Bet365.com on eBay in January 2000. At the time, Denise was the managing director of the Provincial Racing betting shop chain setup by her father.
Peter Coates sold his shares in the Stoke City football club just prior to this which generated £3.5 million for him. Denise convinced him that online gambling was the way to go and he agreed. Peter raised £15 million by mortgaging the betting shops that he owned. He used this money to invest in the startup of Bet365.
Two of the largest betting organizations in the UK, William Hill and Ladbrokes were venturing online at about the same time. They were not as convinced as the Coates family that this would be a roaring success.
This gave Peter, Denise and John a real advantage as they went “all in” to start Bet365 online. It was a risk because nobody knew how popular online gambling would become in the future. The family kept costs to a minimum and were able to launch Bet365.com in March of 2001.
Over the years Bet365 have obtained gambling licenses in the United Kingdom and extended this to Gibraltar, Malta, Bulgaria, Italy, Australia, Denmark and Spain. This has allowed them to provide legal online gambling in a number of different countries around the world.
The early growth of Bet365
When Bet365 first started they focused on sports betting. They provided odds on popular sports such as football, horse racing and popular sports from the United States. Most other online bookmakers were doing the same thing but Bet365 went even further. The company offered betting opportunities in other sports such as darts, snooker, rugby, Formula 1 and more.
Bet365 had the advantage of being licensed in the UK. Some of their biggest rivals such as William Hill had decided to operate offshore. This meant that gamblers trusted Bet365 more and their customer base grew as a result.
The company added an online casino and poker rooms to their site back in November 2004. They had a particular interest in tournament poker and over the last few years they have even sponsored a small number of professional players.
Further expansion
The Coates family were always keen to take advantage of the latest developments in technology. They have been the pioneers of services like mobile betting. Their mobile platform caters to all kinds of devices such as the most popular in Android and iOS as well as Nokia and Blackberry.
They were one of the first betting companies to introduce live betting and the streaming of sports events live on their site. Bet365 further expanded the range of sports that their customers could bet on and offered more than any other online gambling website.
They became true masters of live betting and really lead the way with this. Many big football matches were streamed live from their site. Bet365 added menus for gamblers that provided information about the teams and other opportunities to bet while the game was being played.
Bet365 really do put their customers first. Starting in 2004 they offered a number of different currencies so that gamblers around the world would be comfortable betting with their own currencies. They also added a number of language options which included Chinese, German, Norwegian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian and more.
Bingo was added to the Bet365 offering in 2008. They used a skin to achieve this and software created by the giant Playtech company. They knew that bingo was big in the UK and they even sponsored a popular UK television program called Emmerdale Farm which is still running today.
Bet365 today
A large part of the success that Bet365 has experienced over the years was a result of their passion for taking care of their customers. They have always provided great support to their customers and ensured that all winning bets are settled fast. In addition to this, they also offer some of the best bonuses around for their online casino and sportsbook.
Right now, the Bet365 sport section has over 6 million customers that come from around 200 countries. The company employs more than 1,700 people and they still remain a private company. There are no public records available but financial experts predict that Bet365 is very profitable and is one of the top UK private companies.
FAQ’s
The founders of Bet365 were Peter Coates (the father) and his daughter Denise and son John.
Yes, in fact they have operating licenses in many top tier jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, Malta and Gibraltar. They never moved their headquarters from Stoke in the UK.
There are a number of factors that make Bet365 very successful. They are truly customer focused and provide excellent support. Gamblers have a lot of choice with Bet365 and they are seen as a very trustworthy company to deal with.
Bet365 provides numerous betting opportunities for their customers. They have one of the largest sportsbooks available and cover a vast array of different sports. There is an online casino which is very popular and they have great poker rooms where professionals play often. The company is a strong believer in technology and embraces all new advancements such as mobile and live betting and streaming.